ConfigMgr Sites, Distribution Points, Databases, and More
This posting is 1 of a monthlong series of postings on the Microsoft System Center family of products. This is an excerpt from my book “System Center Enterprise Unleashed” with more postings on the System Center family of products up at http://www.networkworld.com/community/morimoto
System Center Configuration Manager contains many different roles along with several internal and external dependencies. The following list describes each Configuration Manager role. Each role can be installed on a separate server for a very high degree of scalability or colocated on the same server for smaller environments.
The roles of Configuration Manager are as follows:
► Site System—This is a term used to describe a server or a network share that hosts Configuration Manager functionality. A Site System can host a single role or several roles.
► Site Database—The Central Site Server and each Primary Site Server require a Site Database. This database contains configuration data for the site and client data, such as hardware inventory, and patch compliance data.
► Central Site Server—The Central Site Server is the highest-level Primary Site Server in the hierarchy. This server has the ability to manage all clients throughout the hierarchy. The Central Site Server provides essentially the same functionality as a Primary Site Server.
► Primary Site Server—A Primary Site Server provides core functionality for Configuration Manager. This server manages Site Component Servers, provides an interface to manage systems, and manages data in the Site Database.
► SMS Provider—All Configuration Manager Primary Site Servers use a WMI provider to communicate with the Site Database. This includes things like updating the Site Database when a client inventory is submitted.
► Secondary Site Server—A Secondary Site Server does not require a database. A Secondary Site Server provides a proxy for client communication within an area and is often used when very specific bandwidth control is needed between two physical network locations.
► Component Servers—A Component Server provides additional functionality beyond the basic Site Server. Components include the Management Point, Fallback Status Point, Distribution Point, Reporting Point, and so on.
► Server Locator Point—The Server Locator Point (SLP) component provides a way for managed systems to find Site Systems. This is typically used when managing nondomain clients or when Active Directory schema has not been extended.
► Management Point—All managed clients communicate with the Management Point (MP) web service. This communication is established by the client to receive management policies and send status. The Management Point receives policies from the Site Database and delivers client data and status messages to the Primary Site Server for processing.
► Fallback Status Point—The Fallback Status Point (FSP) provides a safety net for clients. A client system can send status messages to a Fallback Status Point when initial communication has been established, such as when a new agent is installed, or when communication has failed and the client is orphaned or otherwise unable to establish normal communication with the site.
► Distribution Point—The Distribution Point provides the distributed repository for packages. This repository can contain operating system packages, software packages, and patch packages. Clients query the Management Point for a list of local Distribution Points when asked to execute a package.
► Software Update Point—The Software Update Point (SUP) communicates with the WSUS implementation to receive data from Microsoft Update about patches and updates available for clients. The Software Update Point also manages the Software Update Client Agent on systems that are managed by Configuration Manager.
► Reporting Point—The Reporting Point (RP) is a legacy component that uses a static ASP web page to run queries against the Site Database. It provides a simple way to execute queries and produce basic reports that contain data from the Site Database.
► Reporting Service Point—The Reporting Service Point (RSP) provides an extensible reporting infrastructure based on SQL Reporting Services. This provides a powerful way to access data in the Site Database, and includes the ability to schedule reports through subscriptions.
► PXE Service Point—The PXE Service Point (PSP) provides network boot capabilities for managed systems during an OS deployment or refresh.
► State Migration Point—The State Migration Point (SMP) provides a secure location to store the user state from a client system during the OS deployment.
► Enterprise Root CA—This is a Certificate Authority that is integrated with Active Directory. The root certificate is automatically distributed to domain members through Active Directory. All domain members trust an Enterprise Root CA by default.
► Client Certificate—This is a unique certificate that is installed in the computer’s personal certificate store on each managed system. The Configuration Manager agent uses this certificate to identify the computer when communicating with Site Component Servers.
► Server Certificate—This certificate is used by the different Configuration Manager components to encrypt the communication between the Configuration Manager server and the managed client.
► Document Signing Certificate—This certificate is used to sign the policies used to configure managed clients.
